Happiness

Happiness is....



...when you create something you love.... Yes I love this piece. The colors, the shapes, the details.... it was an odd experience, because I'm still very much a beginner, so I add to ask a lot of technical questions that became my obstacle, like the height. I had to heat the bottom with a heat gun and build it in three sections. Also this was my very first piece using low fire clay and glazes. Regarding the actual shape, I carved it out from the clay and added clay where needed. I just followed my hands along as they worked.
















Below. A detail of the blue section. I was worried many times in the process that "loose" and fragile parts like this would break but I was lucky.


Last photo this time of this happy thing is taken outside in the New Mexico sunshine!

A few glass pictures

In the fall of -07 when I lived in Seattle I took some art classes at Pratt Art Center.
I haven't had a chance to take pictures of what I did since a lot of it has been in storage during 2008.
Here are some first few photos of some glass pieces I did. More will be added.
Glass is very difficult to photograph and I'm not 100% pleased, but still they capture my design ideas and my colors. I love to work in glass and hope to be able to do some more fusing in the near future...

Raku

I did some things for Raku firing when I started at Aspects of Clay. They now got properly Raku fired this past week end.
You can read more about Raku firing here:
http://www.robertcomptonpottery.com/Method%20of%20Raku-Firing-Pottery.htm
or here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raku_ware
or in Swedish/svenska here
http://www.emilceramics.com/
eller
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raku





This simple shape has two sides....





Indoor photo above



Above> Indoor light. It is hard to believe this is a piece of clay... of the earth....



This one above is a piece I intend to continue elaborate with and add some gemstones or pearls and maybe fabric... I will keep you posted.





Below Playing with texture....

Glazed Ceramics :D

So now here are my things again, now this time post-glazing.

Clay sculptures Glazing

This is how my first two clay sculptures (cone 6) look with glaze on them before being fired tonight. I spent the whole day today (02-17-09) from 11 am until 6 pm with brushing on the glaze... well I did some last finishing on another piece as well. Tonight while I am here at home they are in the kilns at Aspects of Clay. Look now at the colors and then compare in a couple of days to see what happens with the colors of the glaze. The mustard looking color on the seed pod looking thing on the bottom pictures is supposed to turn in to blue, and the little rose sitting on it will be red..... let's see if it will be true.

The magic of the heat.....

Basket Painting Part I

I found some nice looking (and very inexpensive) baskets last week that I decided I could paint. They will be a nice addition to our bathrooms for guest towels when they are finished.
It takes time to make them though. I paint 2-3 layers with basic color before the decorating starts. This is pretty much how far I got last week. I will continue with the detailing some day soon.... :P

This is what I did today...

This is what I did today in iron-rich reddish brown (cone 6) clay....
the second picture is with a flash and it kind of distorted the color too much.
The day was spent in complete absorption from the creativity at work. My banana that I brought for snack is still in my bag. The complete flow. I was just digging out what was hiding in the clay. Tomorrow I will do some touch up and dig out the middle from within so it can be fired.